My friend, Joseph Dabrowski, was in Atlanta this past week for a certification class, and I decided to take the opportunity to interview him while he was here.

Born in 1968, he definitely isn’t one of the “oldest” interviewees, but I wanted to capture what he had to say, for his daughter, Elizabeth, who is just 18 months old.

Joe talks about growing up in a military family, and eventually settling down in Las Vegas with his wife, Andrea.

He reminisces about his mother, and how she always found time to play games, and be there for her “Shadow”.

But most importantly, Joe talks about Lizzy, the joy and love and adoption brings, and the unexpected changes that come with parenthood.

Running time for this interview is 30 minutes and 32 seconds. The interview was done with the VN-960PC Olympus Digital Voice Recorder, with the noise cancelling microphone.

Of course, our opening theme song is “Tracked In Mud”, by Cory Davies, and the music played in the middle of the podcast is “Hasten The Day”, by Barry Mauer. As usual, all of the music comes to us courtesy of the artists, and podsafeaudio.com

Now sit back, relax, and take a journey back in time, while we get RetroMental.

This week, I conduct my first phone interview, and it’s with my father, Robert Barrett.

Born in 1933 in Green River, Wyoming, my father was quite a handful growing up, and talks about the trials and tribulations of his family.

He tells us about his father, who worked for the railroad, and the time they spent in Cheyenne, Wyoming. He also speaks of his mother, who was born in Panama while her father was helping to construct the Panama Canal.

He reminisces about serving in the Navy during the Korean War, surveying mining claims, and his many years in law enforcement.

Follow along as he discovers life, love, and God.

Running time for this interview is 45 minutes and 20 seconds. The interview was done with the VN-960PC Olympus Digital Voice Recorder, with the “telephone” microphone.

Of course, our opening theme song is “Tracked In Mud”, by Cory Davies, and the music played in the middle of the podcast is “Tara Sings” by Michael Stephens. Check out these and other great songs at Podsafe Audio.

Now sit back, relax, and take a journey back in time, while we get RetroMental.

Of course, our opening theme song is “Tracked In Mud”, by Cory Davies, and the music played in the middle of the podcast is “Where Does The Time Go, Missus” by Michael Stephens. Check out other great music at Podsafe Audio.

Now sit back, relax, and take a journey back in time, while we get RetroMental.

This week, I visit with Dr. Joanne Rhone from Clark Atlanta University.

Born in Diboll, Texas, Joanne talks to us about her childhood, some of her adventures growing up, and her love for Christmas.

She tells us about her mother and father, who were quite busy raising and providing for 12 children. Her father worked in a sawmill and was nearly killed in a freak accident, and her mother, a strong disciplinarian, stayed at home to raise her and her 11 siblings.

Dr. Rhone tells us what it was like chopping and picking cotton, and working on the farm in Bonita, Louisiana, where they moved after her father’s accident.

She reminisces about playing marbles with the boys, and doing all the things the boys did, even when she was supposed to be doing “girl” things.

She shares her view of God, the devil, and her Southern Baptist upbringing.

Dr. Rhone shared so much during our interview, that I decided to split it into three shows. This is part 1.

Running time for this interview is 44 minutes and 29 seconds. The interview was done with the VN-960PC Olympus Digital Voice Recorder, with the noise cancelling microphone.

This week, I sit down with Professor William Nolan from the Atlanta College of Art.

Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Bill tells us about his famous father, W.I. Nolan, who served as the 24th Lt. Governor of Minnesota and in Congress as a Representative from the 5th district. While doing a little follow-up research on his father I discovered something very interesting which Bill did not mention in our interview.

W.I. Nolan co-sponsored legislation back in 1930 which is now known as the Shipstad-Nolan Act, which was pioneering legislation which would shape our countries view of wilderness area for years to come.

Here as all know is the last great wilderness of its kind on the continent. Nowhere else can such beautiful lakes be found. Nowhere else can you find them close enough together to make what is known as a canoe country, and nowhere else is there so much beauty concentrated in one spot as here. It is the last area of its kind in the country. Are we going to sacrifice it to the ogre of commercialism?

So wrote Sigurd Olson, champion of northwoods wilderness conservation, in a 1929 letter to Congress in support of a bill that would ban logging on shorelines of lakes in the Superior National Forest including what would become the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. One year after Olson’s letter, Congress passed the Shipstad-Nolan Act, the first congressional act to specifically preserve wilderness.

Seventy-three years later, the Superior National Forest—including part of the BWCAW – contains over three million acres of rugged forested terrain, impenetrable bogs, countless lakes and over 2,250 miles of streams. Living within is a diverse array of wildlife including loons, lynx, bobcat, pine marten, black bear, moose, birds of prey from eagles to osprey and the largest population of timber wolves south of the Canadian border.

Bill also speaks about his mother, who was years younger than his father, and her devotion to a teenaged boy who didn’t know to appreciate such devotion at the time.

Bill reminisces about his career as an art professor and his travels which took him from Minnesota to Washington, then Nova Scotia, Kansas City, and eventually Atlanta. He shares with us, his favorite artwork, which I will be posting here at RetroMental as soon as I receive it.

An accomplished artist who has worked in painting, computer imagery, and experimental sound, Bill Nolan has spent over half a century either creating artwork or teaching others how to hone their own skills.

Running time for this interview is 45 minutes and 28 seconds. The interview was done with the VN-960PC Olympus Digital Voice Recorder, with the noise cancelling microphone.

In our second interview I find myself sitting a mere 30 feet from the location of our previous conversation, but this time, I’m with my father-in-law, Michael.

Born at Ft. Meade, Michael talks about growing up in Glen Burnie, Maryland, and living for a time in Florida, then working at a plastics plant, before devoting 40 years to United Airlines.

Michael mentions relatives who were killed in an indian raid outside of Chicago, some who immigrated to the United States from Poland, and another who attempted to run away, only to ask if he could come back home.

Michael reminisces about his mother and her black-walnut cake which was coveted by church members, and how the recipe to make it died with her.

Michael’s father served in the army before and during World War II, and Michael tells a few of the tales his father used to tell, and even has a story about a famous general’s first wife.

He recalls time spent hunting with his father-in-law, and his brother-in law. He also talks about his siblings, his children, and a few of his 15 grandchildren, and how he hopes at least one of them will turn out to be a hunter.

As an avid hunter he also has a few “experiences” to share with us, like his hunting trip to Alaska, and how he knew there was a bear nearby.

Running time for this interview is 35 minutes and 51 seconds. The interview itself was done using the VN-960PC Olympus Digital Voice Recorder, with the noise cancelling microphone.

I found a new theme song for the show on podsafeaudio.com, titled “Tracked In Mud”, by Cory Davies, and I forgot to mention the theme music used in the previous episode, which was titled, “Her Hand In War”, by The Tiler.

Now sit back, relax, and take a journey back in time, while we get RetroMental.

For our debut interview, I sit down with my mother-in-law, Joyce, in the comfort of her living room.

Throughout the interview you will hear her daughter, April, sitting in the background, snapping her fingers on a book. Joyce has dedicated her life to taking care of April, who is severely handicapped.

Joyce talks about living as a young child in West Virginia and playing near the New River Bridge.

She also discusses the Great Depression and the effect it had on her family.

Follow along as Joyce tells us about her family’s move to Baltimore and how she eventually made her way to the state of Georgia.

Running time for this interview is 42 minutes and 47 seconds. The interview itself was done using a VN-960PC Olympus Digital Voice Recorder, which works very well, but we have already ordered a noise cancelling microphone for the next interview, just in case.

RetroMental: Time Capsules is a weekly podcast where we step back in time through the minds of everyday Americans, as they recount the days that made our country what it is today.

Our original goal was to conduct relaxing, informative interviews with a variety of people from all walks of life, and present those interviews here, in a print format, but with the advent of the podcast, and the ease of RSS, RetroMental: Time Capsules was born.

Join our host, Michael Barrett, as he sits down each week with people from all walks of life to share the stories that shaped their lives, that may otherwise have gone untold.